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7/10/12

Ride In 7/10: They should sell Bro-tox for frat guys with wrinkles

Why couldn't I just keep going? Or maybe, why didn't I just keep going? There are some mornings that are so nice, when you just feel so good and happy and content and sated by riding your bike to work that having to stop there just seems cruel. This was one of those mornings. Maybe I need to get a job that's farther away. At least for the summer. In the winter it could be closer. Transhumance sheparding by bike? I should set up a kickstarter to buy some sheep.

Slope-a-dope might be a term I just coined for a hill that at first seems pretty mild but turns out to be considerably harder to climb than initially anticipated. I wish this blog was narrated by Howard Cosell.

Nice to see the new bike commuters out, looking to show the regulars how fast and lawless they are. Maybe they don't know yet that when they ride like asshats, people say as much to them about it. They might not see it (or hear it), but I do. Asshattery does not go unnoticed. This is the nature of living in a city. If you're an asshat in the woods and no one is around to snark about, are you still an asshat? Pretty much, yeah.

Pennsylvania Avenue to 15th and then up 15th to V street. Fairly anodyne.

Up Champlain, I felt like I was actually riding fast. I'm sure that was a mistaken perception. Nonetheless, I was pretty happy about my pace and if you can't be a self-satisfied bike commuter, then you shouldn't be a bike commuter. You don't get a medal for doing this, or at least not until the Olympics recognizes it as a sport. Sure, you can bike around a velodrome, but can you bring home a dozen eggs, a six pack of beer and fold your clothes in such a way that they're only a little wrinkled? (Note: I tend to only transport beer and eggs via my bicycle on commutes home, though I think an omelet and a cold one would go a long way to making my morning meetings a lot better)

Haven't pointed this out in a while, but don't mess with dump trucks. It's always been true and it's still true.

St. Albans must be having some sort of summer camp exclusively for kids whose parents can't drive for shit. It's not nearly as exclusive as you'd think. Three close calls on Garfield, each time with at least one kid in the back seat. The areas immediately proximate to schools tend to be the worst places for pedestrians and bicyclists. This is tremendously sad. I think it's also a "first mover" problem. No one wants to take their kid out of the armored car luxury SUV to walk or bike if he's going to be unsafely exposed to other poorly driven tanks luxury SUVs. I'd like all schools to have a 2 block car-free buffer area: a DMZ (De-Motorist-ed Zone).

Massachusetts from Garfield was pretty easy, except for an 18 wheeler that I sought to avoid as much as possible. Near the top of the hill by Ward Circle, after the truck had stalled, I decided to just ride on the sidewalk rather than take my chances trying to skirt past it and the anxious motorists who were trying to do the same. Fight or flight.